Troy Deeney to return to Watford training after talks with Government chief

Troy Deeney has been convinced to return to training with Watford.

Deeney declined to take part in Phase One – with the backing of his club – explaining that his priority was his five-month old son Clay, who has suffered with breathing difficulties.

He also also expressed fears that black, Asian and ethnic minority individuals are up to four times more likely to contract the virus than their white counterparts.

Deeney has also revealed that his stance against returning sparked a flurry of vile insults wishing coronavirus on his son, while his wife was also targeted in the street by people saying the player should return to work.

But Deeney’s fears have now been allayed by the Premier League and the Government’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan van Tam and he is now set to go back to work as full-contact training returns this week.

“I only said that I wasn’t going back for the first week, Deeney told CNN Sport. “People took that as I’ll never go back.

“But everyone appreciates everything the Premier League is trying to do as well. I don’t think it’s a case of pure neglect in terms of ‘We’re going back to work, get on board’ or it’s anything like that.

"There have very good lines of communication and I’ve maybe had four or five meetings now.

“I’m the captain of a Premier League football team. I’m not doing my job if I’m sitting back at home, saying to the players: ‘You win this game for me and I’m not doing anything’.

“Anyone that knows me knows I’m never scared of a challenge. But anyone that knows me also knows that family is the most important thing for me.

“I also think ultimately, everyone knows that this is happening, the season is gonna finish and you control the controllables really.

“To be fair, if it weren’t for my missus, I probably wouldn’t. But she’s adamant that we can do enough things to protect ourselves.

"We are trying to figure out like, ways to wash the clothes separately and little things like that. You know, I’ve got quite a busy household.

“Also Watford have been excellent with me as well. They are trying their best to do anything to support me and my family. I haven’t been to work as yet.

"But I’m potentially going to go in next week. Even if it’s just to have a conversation. I’ve already been in dialogue with all the players and all the management.”

But he was the only current player on a call last week with former Arsenal striker Ian Wright, the Doncaster boss Darren Moore and others, speaking to Van Tam to address his concerns.

He added: “Jonathan is doing really well, again, not only answering questions. He has also been honest enough to say at times: ‘I don’t have the answer’.

“The first conversation I had with Jonathan was maybe three weeks ago. The last conversation we had was on Friday and he had so much more information, so much more detailed analysis.

“Again, he was very much: ‘This is what I know to this day, in a week’s time, two weeks, I’ll have more and I’ll keep giving you the information’.

“So it just filled me with confidence that he’s trying his best to make sure that we have all the information. The risk factor will be down to players.

“So you see, the Chelsea midfielder N’golo Kante has decided not to go back to work. That’s his choice based on his information.

"So, ultimately, we will all have a decision to make at some point. Some will run the risk some more choose not to, it’s solely that I think we have to respect everyone’s decision.”

Sign up to the Mirror Football email here for the latest news and transfer gossip.